heartbeat racing the interstate
by thatssupersketch
Summary: high school friends take their dinky 12 passenger van on a road trip to vegas aka Bellamy Blake has a hard time focusing on the road when Clarke Griffin is riding shotgun
1. tonight, we lie awake

"ROADTRIP!" Jasper bellowed, trampling Monty as he barreled through to get to the van. Monty shot him a dirty look as the rest of their friends laughed at Jasper's normal childish behavior. Everyone else clambered into the can behind him.

It was old, it was dirty, but it was _theirs. _Which was a lot more than most of them could say growing up. The ceilings of the 12 passenger van were coated in sharpie, and all the bases were covered. You could see around where Clarke sat an absurd amount of doodles to random phrases above Monty and Jasper that qwould cause them to burst out laughing and everyone else to stare at them quizzically.

This old thing had weathered their rebellious years, their high school years, and the group of friends was ready to go out with a bang before the majority of them left to go to different colleges across the country.

Everyone, as always, sat in their 'assigned' seat. It had been like this since day one, no one had ever changed their spot and no one had ever wanted to. There was Bellamy in the driver's seat, because he was the oldest and the most bossy (besides Clarke), Clarke as shotgun, because she was the only one to ever know where they were going or how to get there. Jasper and Monty always sat in the back, mostly because everyone did NOT want to get in the middle of whatever they were currently brewing up. Octavia and Lincoln also sat in the back, but rather than wanting to stay out of the way, Octavia wanted her and her boyfriend to be as far away from her protective older brother as possible. This didn't discourage Bellamy for slamming on the breaks whenever he saw blatant displays of affection from the back row, and everyone would turn back and glare at them like it was their fault. Which it kind of was, but whatever. Murphy and Miller sat in the next to last row, which usually ended up with some sort of riot going on, but it was good natured. The front row was normally occupied by Finn and Raven, the voice of reason and the fix it girl. The ones who were the most vital towards the group's charades sat closer towards the front.

It was hard on everyone when the seat next to Raven stayed empty.

No one mentioned it, however, in order to keep the mood light. Everyone was (finally) infinitely thankful for Jasper's antics, especially Clarke and Raven.

_We will have fun on this trip if it kills me_, thought Bellamy grimly. But as he glanced over at Clarke, a pained expression etched on her face, he silently added, _it just might._

There was absolutely no sleep that night, everyone was too excited and high strung to even think about it. Music blasted through the ancient speakers, making the kids feel a lot cooler than they looked. They were still riding in a 1975 12 passenger van, and no amount of cool music could change that.

It also depended on what one would classify as 'good' music. If Bellamy, Miller, AND Murphy could all agree on one thing, it would be to listen to hard rock all the time. Octavia disagreed, tossing in her opinion ("Worthless," Bellamy remarked with a scoff and O glared at him) that pop WAS the best kind of music. Lincoln doesn't have an opinion as long as it isn't KPOP, Jasper and Monty liked soundtracks, and Clarke and Raven liked indie. Which, as much as he hated to admit it, wasn't the worst taste in music a person could have.

They finally decided to take turns, and Clarke went first, as she was shotgun. She shot Bellamy a wicked grin as she got her way, and Raven silently fist pumped in the back. Bellamy can't help but grin back, there's just something about the streetlights that soften her face just so in the 2 am darkness.

She bends down to reach in her backpack, which she carries with her everywhere ("Just in case," she would always say hastily) and pulled out a deck of cards. "Hey guys," she raised her voice. "Let's play mafia!"

This immediately has the back row's attention. Jasper has been the narrator since they were in junior high for that game, and it wasn't nearly as good if he didn't narrate it. Clarke passed the deck back to her geeky friend. "Deal us out!"

Bellamy desperately wants to play, but doesn't say anything because, well, he's driving. Like he doesn't have enough of a distraction sitting right next to him.

Monty dealt out the cards while Jasper did some sort of concentration thing, like that one scene from high school musical with Sharpay trying to warm up before the big show. Or whatever. It's not like Bellamy had seen that. (Okay, maybe O made him watch it with her. A lot. He knows all the words)

"Okay, now everyone look," said Jasper. He watches Clarke flip her card over in his peripheral vision. She furrows her eyebrows, as if trying to decide something. Bellamy immediately assumes she was the mafia. Princess had no poker face, which is why he was always the one who swept the floor with the gang at Texas Hold 'Em, although Monty was notoriously vicious in poker.

"EVERYONE GO TO SLEEP," Jasper orders loudly, and everyone complies, but Bellamy only laughs at how Raven grumbles behind him before she finally bows her head.

"Mafia, wake up."

Bellamy glances at Clarke, who shocks him by not lifting her head. He is puzzled by the turn of events, but continues to listen intently.

"Mafia, who do you want to kill?" He hears shuffling in the back as someone, probably the mafia, picks their next 'victim'. "Okay, go back to sleep."

"Doctor, wake up."

Clarke slowly raises her head, and Bellamy could practically kick himself for not realizing of COURSE she would be the doctor. She wasn't deliberating who to kill, she was determining who to save. However, he doesn't want to ruin the story that Jasper will recount in a minute, so he refocuses his attention on the road ahead.

"Who do you want to save?"

"Okay, go back to sleep." Bellamy does notice Clarke lower her head, though. Jasper goes through the same motions for the investigator, and then puts him back to 'sleep'.

"WAKE UP EVERYBODY," Jasper says as loud as he possibly can. Raven flips him off, and Jasper can only grin in response. Everyone waits eagerly for their goggle adorned friend's tale.

"In the little town of Arkham City…" he began.

"Jasper, this isn't Batman," Raven objects loudly, causing everyone else in the van to shush her.

"As I was saying," Jasper shoots Raven a pointed look. "In the little town of Arkham City, there was a serial killer who liked to strangle people to death, and leave them in various poses." Jasper demonstrates, and the kids try not to laugh, considering he's talking about dead people.

"This killer, he goes to the library to find a book…"

"What kind of book?" Miller asks skeptically.

"A self help book on how to get rid of a body. And it's late at night, so there are very few people in the library, but a boy sits at a table upstairs, reading some history book. This killer, sensing the opportunity, sneaks up behind the boy engrossed in the book and strangles him! Bellamy is dead and gone."

"Hey!" Bellamy protests, amidst the laughter of his friends. "I'm an innocent bystander! I'm not even playing!"

Jasper throws his hands up exasperatedly. "I'm not finished! You guys suck. You keep interrupting me."

Monty pats his arm. "It's okay Jasper, just keep going." Jasper shoots his best friend a look, but continues anyway.

"As soon as the killer slips behind the stacks, a doctor appears on the scene! And luck for Blake over here, Clarke knew immediately to save him."

Bellamy spares a sidelong glance at Clarke, waiting for her reaction. She turns toward him and grins. "I knew it!" she says matter of factly.

"You want to save my life that badly, princess?" he chuckes.

"No," she rolls her eyes. "You were the most logical choice because who would save the only non player?" Clarke smiles triumphantly, and both of them tune back into the tale unfolding.

"Unfortunately," Jasper says, "The Investigator was dumb and started questioning Octavia, who was an innocent bystander making out with her boyfriend in the nearby stacks…" Octavia looks indignant at the fact that someone chose to question her, and Lincoln rubs her back soothingly, rather platonically, as Bellamy is always watching from the driver's seat.

"The murderer got away. Give me all of your cards!" Monty takes them all, and makes quick work of shuffling them, then hands them to Jasper, who deals them out again. This time Bellamy isn't abhorrent to watching the drama unfold, and quickly finds out who the murderer is, and that Octavia is really bad at picking who to save, because she always saves Lincoln and no one even messes with Lincoln.

This round Raven was killed, because "the killer didn't like her potty mouth and her attitude." Octavia saved Lincoln (sigh) and whoever the investigator was didn't catch the culprit.

Miller and Monty are killed, narrowing down the suspect pool quite a bit.

After life changing decisions are made, Jasper wakes them up for the final time. "Alright, citizens of Arkham city…" He looks around the van. "Last night, the serial killer stepped up his game. He went for a poor innocent young girl….by the name of Octavia." Lincoln mock gasps in horror, and Octavia punches him. "Not cool," she whines. "I just died."

Jasper sighs heavily. "No, you didn't. You people have to ruin everything, don't you? A handsome young doctor by the name of Lincoln just so happened to be around the park when our killer tried to hang O from a tree." Octavia giggles in excitement and Bellamy can't help but roll his eyes.

"As the killer rounds the street corner, he runs smack dab into a fierce little blonde police officer, who doesn't hesitate to slap some silver cuffs on his wrists. " He grins at Clarke, who is smiling proudly.

"Murphy is arrested on the count of three murders, and two attempted murders. The jig's up, kid," He pokes Murphy, who scowls.

"And I woulda got away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" He shakes his fist at the sky.

Monty shrugs. "This IS kind of the mystery machine…" Jasper hits him in the arm as partial payback for earlier.

"Good job, Clarke," Bellamy says, looking at his copilot. "How'd you figure it out?"

She smiles at him. "It was simple, really. Only Octavia, Lincoln, Murphy and I were left, and Octavia kept saving Lincoln, he had saved her once before, and I wasn't the mafia… it had to be Murphy."

"Way to be logical, princess." He grins and offers his fist out to her, which she hits with her own.

"That's how you win."

"Or you cheat!" Raven chimes in helpfully from the back.

"Yes, or that," Bellamy agrees, and Clarke laughs.

"Let's play another round!" shouts Jasper from the back.

He glances down at the stereo clock, and it's 3 in the morning. If there was any reason to be up at three in the morning, playing mafia in a 12 passenger van with your best friends on your way to Vegas sure was it.


	2. remember how the coffee made us shake

_Remember how the coffee made us shake on those long drives? _

"Jasper, I swear to God, you do NOT need coffee."

"But I do!"

"No. You do not."

Although 'college road trip to Vegas' seemed like a good idea at the time, Bellamy is starting to have serious regrets about taking these hooligans halfway across the country. It's day two and he's already about to knock Jasper upside the head.

To be fair, it was early enough in the morning and they haven't eaten anything yet. But the rest of the van-load is still asleep or groggy, and Jasper's sunny morning personality certainly isn't helping anything. Monty silently agrees with him when he shoves his hoodie in Jasper's face, resulting in a long, drawn out whine.

"Bellamyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."

Bellamy rolls his eyes and counts to ten, hands tightening then relaxing at the wheel. He sighs. "Well—"

"YES. STARBUCKS," Jasper yells excitedly, ramping up the energy in the van from about a 2 to a 10. Jasper is a morning person, and everyone else in the car is definitely not. There were times when the gang appreciated his rampant energy, but now was not one of those times. Raven is always especially grumpy in the morning, and Murphy, well…Murphy is always a little ticked off. Clarke is a heavy sleeper and would usually take a lot of effort to wake up in the morning. Bellamy remembers stories O has told him of her and Raven's misadventures of attempting to get Clarke up in the morning. Said attempts either ended up with a black eye (Raven) or the silent treatment for a week (Octavia).

Octavia must've heard her girly coffee drinks calling to her in her sleep, because she immediately sits up and zeroes in on Bellamy. "Starbucks? I'm in." She doesn't even look phased at the fact she's actually awake before 9 a.m. This was a rare feat, so Octavia must really want her coffee. Or coffee subsititute. Bellamy really isn't sure what Starbucks actually did to their drinks, but he could've swore some of the things Octavia brought home for him to try were definitely NOT coffee.

Clarke lets out a soft laugh from the passenger's seat, startling him more than he would like to admit. He prided himself on being observant, but he had missed her waking up. Too busy criticizing Octavia's horrible taste, he supposes. "You can't say no to Starbucks, Bell," she adds sleepily with a lazy smile on her face.

Maybe he could say no to Starbucks, but there is no way he could say no to that face (It certainly didn't help that it was Clarke AND Octavia asking).

"Fine," he grumbles, putting on a grumpy façade. "We'll stop."

"There's one in the next town!" Monty chimes in helpfully. Miller high fives him, and earns a side eye from Murphy. Morning Murphy didn't like loud noises or the possibility of being hit, probably because he had nursed one too many nasty hangovers in the past.

"You aren't hungover, are you Murphy?" calls Bellamy, a smirk growing on his face. If anyone could sneak booze on this trip, it _would_ be Murphy. That sly fox.

"No," Murphy says with a frown. "I just don't want to get hit back here and these two won't stop flirting." He sets his jaw and slides further down into the seat, causing Octavia's laughter. She proceeds to pat him on the head, which makes him furrow his eyebrows.

"Not you, too," he whines. "You're one of the nicer ones."

Octavia leans forward, the signature Blake grin growing on her face. "Who said I was nice?"

Murphy watches her warily out of the corner of his eye. Finally deciding he doesn't want to take his chances with the younger Blake, he leans back over towards Miller. "You people, I swear to God," he burrows further down into his blanket. "All savages early in the morning."

O ruffles his hair and leans back into Lincoln, who has been watching her with a proud expression. "That's my girl," he says with a (rare) smile and she giggles.

Bellamy groans. "Not this again," he mutters under his breath. Clarke puts her hand on his arm. He barely notices the ghost of a touch on his arm, but since he knows it's Clarke, it's like a fire coursing through his veins from where she hesitantly has placed her hand on his arm. He doesn't know when this started, but he can't say the distraction is welcome. He has enough to freaking worry about with his little sister and tall dark and tattooed back there.

He opens his mouth to protest the blatant flirting, but Clarke cuts him off. "Come on. Don't you remember being happy like that? She's so carefree. Let her stay that way while she can." She looks wistful, and Bellamy knows how heavy her burden is. He has carried it himself a time or two on his own, and there is one that they have shared together. It's more than she should have to carry, but she is the strongest of them all. He knows this. They all know this. Clarke drags her eyes back to Bellamy, and her face carries a lighter demeanor.

Sometime in the night, Clarke has tossed her wild and curly blonde hair into a messy bun. Straggling pieces fall down and frame her face, and her cheeks are red. She's adorable, curled up in a blanket, and sitting right next to him.

Bellamy _so_ wishes this was under completely different circumstances.

This is why pining for your friends sucks. He had seen how things had gone down with Finn fiasco, and the major rift it had caused amongst their group. There is no way he was ever putting them through that again. He honestly didn't know if they could take it. Bellamy loves his friends more than anything, and the last thing he would ever want to do would be to break them apart.

But man, it sucked. Feelings sure had the capability to bring the strongest people to their knees. For instance, stopping at Starbucks, and drinking their not-coffee.

The things he did for this girl.

(whether she knew it or not)

"Take the next exit!" Monty says, scrolling through the directions on his phone. "It should be along the main drag."

"Good, wouldn't want to miss it," Bellamy deadpans, resulting in a chuckle from Raven, who currently is burritoed in a pile of Afghans. To be honest, he can't even see her at all. He thinks it's Raven. She, like the rest of them, is not a morning person either.

Clarke pokes at the pile of blankets, cooing at her. "C'mon, baby Rae," she croons. "We're getting coffee." A hand emerges out of the blanket, then a foot, then finally, her head.

"Coffee?" she says skeptically.

"Starbucks," Clarke clarifies, with a knowing smile adorning her face.

Raven huffs, and proceeds to (attempt to) disentangle herself from her cocoon. "I guess I want some."

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," sing songs Octavia from the back.

"Not one word, Pocahontas."

When Octavia and Raven found out that Bellamy called Clarke princess, they decided that it was unfair. (Well, Octavia did. She was always deciding things her older brother did were unfair) Octavia determined that they should be princesses too. Since Raven slept literally anywhere and everywhere, she earned the nickname 'sleeping beauty.' When O started dating Lincoln, who had crazy tribal tattoos, she thought that she wanted some, too. She almost made Bellamy faint with all the ink she asked his opinion on. In the end, she didn't end up getting anything, but she did manage to almost give Bellamy a heart attack, and the nickname 'Pocahontas' stuck. They were more barbs than anything, but the girls didn't mind. It was the same level of affection as when Monty calls Jasper 'Kim K' and Jasper calls Monty 'Victoria's Secret Angel.' At least, Bellamy thinks so. He's actually not quite sure about that one.

"Oh, there's a spot! Park there!" Octavia says, and Bellamy shoots her a dry look. It's the only open spot, why wouldn't he park there? He sighs exasperatedly, and Clarke just shakes her head at him. He does manage to catch a glimpse of a smile before she exits the van, though. Score.

Everyone somehow manages to get out of the van without causing a riot (it's a miracle, really), and they all head inside the little Starbucks. Octavia looks ecstatic, and drags a resigned Lincoln in behind her. That's one thing Bellamy was okay with, if Lincoln was going to be with his sister, he had to put up with her too. It was a comforting thought, at least. Jasper pushes to the front of the line, but looks like a deer in the headlights when he notices the pretty cashier looking at him expectantly.

"I, uh…" Jasper mumbles, cheeks turning pink. Clarke muffles a laugh, but Murphy doesn't even bother. Miller punches him in the arm, but he doesn't stop. Bellamy really can't blame him. For all the bravado Jasper puts on, it sure crumbles quickly in an uncomfortable situation.

"Maybe he'll tone it down for the next couple of hours," he stage whispers to Murphy, and he snickers.

Monty, Jasper's best friend and apparent savior, rushes to the rescue before his friend's situation becomes irredeemable. "He'll take a Caramel Macchiato. And I'll have the Pumpkin Spice Latte."

When everyone looks at him accusingly, he just shrugs. "What? I love a good white girl drink every once in a while." Jasper finally remembers he should open his mouth, and manages to stammer out, "With whip cream, please."

Monty pats him on the back and pulls out his wallet. Jasper moves to stop him but Monty silences him by holding his pointer fingers up in the air. "Shhh. My treat. You entertained us already this morning." Everyone laughs, and Monty pays. Everyone shuffles up in line, and it goes relatively fast, considering the number of the group. Bellamy, last but never least, finally makes it up to the counter and orders the least toxic thing he can think of—black coffee. He pays and waits, messing with the straws and sugar packets to appear busy before his name his called.

He grabs his coffee and heads to the group's table in the corner, snagging a seat in between Clarke and Miller.

"What'd you get?" she asks, eyeing his opaque cup.

"Black coffee."

"That's so boring," Clarke says, leaning forward on her right arm. "You've gotta spice it up your life a little."

"Au contraire, princess." Bellamy lifts the cup to his lips and grins while taking a sip. "It suits me rather well."

She looks at him questioningly, and he continues. "Black, like my soul," he chuckles. "Or my heart," he adds thoughtfully. "Or maybe I don't have one."

Clarke rolls her eyes. "Only you. "You who swallowed a falling star, oh heartless man…""she trails off expectantly.

Bellamy narrows his eyes in speculation at her. When he finally recognizes it, he snaps his fingers. "Did you just quote Howl's Moving Castle at me?"

"Maybe," she says, looking quite pleased with him.

"Only you," he teases. "What are you drinking, anyway?"

She holds up her transparent cup, giving him a view of her tan liquid. "Chai tea."

"Not a coffee fan?" he muses.

She wrinkles her nose in distaste. "Not at all. I'm a tea person any day."

Bellamy starts to argue that she is completely wrong on that front, but Octavia pulls him up. "Come on Bell, we gotta go," she whines. "If we don't leave now we won't make it to Oklahoma City by tonight. I wanna sleep in a real bed tonight, don't you?" She tugs him further despite his protest, and he can hear Clarke laughing behind him at the eagerness of his sister.

Now that they all had their coffee, day 2 of Roadtrip: Vegas Edition (Jasper likes to name things, okay?) was a go.


End file.
